Interiors of Le Pavillion, a restaurant set up in a former control room at the old Hearn Generating Station, on June 9 2016. Chefs John Bil and Frédéric Morin will be cooking in the space during this year's Luminato Festival. (Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail)Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
The masterminds behind converting the derelict control room of the Hearn Generating Station into a grandiose, French-inspired restaurant during Toronto's Luminato Festival pulled it off to a degree of popularity they did not expect.
On the third day of Le Pavillon's two-week life during the summer, hundreds of people lined up, the catch being there were only 15 seats.
"People really enjoyed themselves and described it as being a once-in-a-lifetime thing, but, on the other hand, it was a bit of a bummer because we were so over capacity," said John Bil, owner of Honest Weight in the Junction. "We had to break a lot of hearts, unfortunately, because the mathematics didn't work. The room itself is quite small."
The goal of Mr. Bil and Frédéric Morin, chef and co-owner of Montreal's Joe Beef, was to transport people to an almost absurd place, given the context of the rugged, rusted-out former coal-and-gas-fired power plant located in Toronto's east side.
"We wanted it, so when you go up the stairs and turn the corner and enter the room, the doors closing behind you, you were just completely in a different place," Mr. Bil said. "That's what happened. The sound, lighting and the food, the ambience: We built the vibe we were looking for. When people walked in they were like, 'This doesn't make sense.'"
Because the restaurant was situated on the third floor of the building, the operation was not without its hindrances, Mr. Bil said.
"Don't open a restaurant in a building that doesn't have any water. There were no sinks or washers, so we had to put all those in ourselves. We ended up running a 600-foot hose to get water in."
Power was circulated through the space by generators, he said, and the team had to lug up 5,000 pounds of wood to build a bar by hand.
"By the time you do that, you're three days behind where you thought you were going to be."
Mr. Bil said it was "totally worth it," regardless of the physical toll it took to launch the pop-up. While he's not opposed to doing something similar in the future, it would be imperative to have access to a building with better infrastructure in order to make it easier, he said.
"It was done strictly out of love for the work we do and each other. It was an expression of thanks from Fred and I to the history of food and all who came in."